Cement case value revised to K6.2bn

It has emerged that the value of money suspected to be involved in the cement import case has increased from K3.5 billion to K6.2 billion, excluding penalties, following the arrest of Ahmed Mohammed Chunara last week.

Chunara is alleged to have also abused the taxpayer identification number (TPIN) of former president Peter Mutharika alongside four others.

Amended court documents from the Lilongwe Magistrate’s Court to the High Court of Malawi show that between November 2018 and December 2019, Chunara is alleged to have imported 1 250 770 bags of cement duty-free on the basis that it was for Mutharika’s personal use. The law allows the President and the Vice-President, among other public officers, to import some items for personal use duty-free.

The court documents further show that Chunara’s transactions allegedly evaded a payment of K3.2 billion in customs duty to the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA).

Reads the court document in part: “The said act caused the Government of Malawi to suffer a pecuniary detriment of K3 232 114 137.29.

“During the same period [Chunara] converted 1 250 770 bags [of cement] with the aim of concealing the illicit origin of the property in question. He knowingly used falsified duty waivers so as to benefit under Customs Procedures Code.”

In the case, Mutharika’s former personal bodyguard Norman Chasale, MRA deputy commissioner general Roza Mbilizi, former director of State residences Peter Mukhito and businessperson Mohammed Chunara, are also accused of importing cement using Mutharika’s TPIN.

Ahmed Mahommed Chunara is father to Mohammed Chunara, the first suspect.

In an interview on Friday, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Steve Kayuni said the State will proceed with the trial on the new figures.

Initially, the principal amount in the case was revised from K5 billion to K3 billion. However, with Ahmed Mohammed Chunala’s addition in the case, the total principal amount is now at K6.2 billion.

Mbilizi and Mukhito are on police bail while the other suspects in the same case are on court bail.

The first four suspects were arrested in 2020.